Sacramento Autorama - Sacre Bleu!

With the area around California's state capitol long known for its connections with custom cars, rather than SoCal's propensity for hot rods, it's little wonder that the Sacramento Autorama, which celebrated its 60th birthday this past February, showcases customs. Its sister show, the Grand National Roadster Show, which occurs a mere few days beforehand in L.A., awards the AMBR trophy, while the premier award at the Sacramento event is the World's Most Beautiful Custom. Two new awards were introduced this year, namely Custom D'Elegance and King of Kustoms, each with different eligibility criteria, as well as the established Sam Barris Memorial award and the Joe Bailon award, all of which makes for a celebration of all things "custom"'-or "kustom", depending on your preference.

2/19

But there was so much more than customs, with muscle cars, hot rods, restored classics, trucks, motorcycles, street rods, dragsters, and even boats, pedal cars, and bicycles. If it had wheels, chances are you'd find it at the Autorama. It was good to see the pinstripers moved into the Suede Pavillion this year, rather than stuck way out at the end of the complex where few could find them, the same building hosting a number of bands throughout the weekend, as well as a pin-up contest Saturday night. Elsewhere you could meet various TV stars, or bid for lots in the pinstripers auction, assuming you'd found time to look at all the vehicles on display of course! With the GNRS and Autorama so close date-wise, it's not surprising that many cars feature at both shows, which means that, for instance, though James Hetfield's Auburn won King of Kustoms and the Manuel Arteche Memorial award, you won't see it here, as we showed it to you last month. It's not like there wasn't plenty at Sacramento to point our camera at, that's for sure!

3/19Fresh out of the Standley Brothers shop in Yuba City, CA, Mike Sue's '36 cabriolet runs a 700-R4 behind the 8BA Flathead, '41 Ford bumpers, '40 Chevy taillights, and a chopped windshield in preparation for a lift-off roof. The spider web white stone display was amazing, but made for strange reflections in the paint!